Christianity is not some ideal toward which we ought always to strive even though the ideal is out of reach. Christianity is not a series of slogans that sum up our beliefs.
Stanley HauerwasRead
To kill, in war or in any circumstance, creates a silence. It is right that silence should surround the taking of life. After all, the life taken is not ours to take.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the moral weight of taking a life, suggesting that it should be surrounded by solemnity and reflection.
Stanley Hauerwas reflects on the profound implications of taking a life, whether in war or other situations. He suggests that such actions should evoke a deep silence, highlighting the seriousness and gravity of death, as it is not our prerogative to decide who should live or die, instilling a sense of reverence and contemplation around the act of killing.
Themes
WarLifeSilenceMoralityDeath
In practice
Example use cases
During a memorial service for soldiers, this quote can be used to honor those who lost their lives.
More from Stanley Hauerwas
All quotes →My way of putting it is that Christians are called to live nonviolently not because we believe nonviolence is a strategy to rid the world of war, but in a world of war as faithful followers of Christ, we cannot imagine being anything other than nonviolent.
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Advent is patience it's how God has made us a people of promise, in a world of impatience.
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War is America's central liturgical act necessary to renew our sense that we are a nation unlike other nations.
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The most creative social strategy we have to offer is the church. Here we show the world a manner of life the world can never achieve through social coercion or governmental action. We serve the world by showing it something that it is not, namely, a place where God is forming a family out of strangers.
Stanley HauerwasRead
Saints cannot exist without a community, as they require, like all of us, nurturance by a people who, while often unfaithful, preserve the habits necessary to learn the story of God.
Stanley HauerwasRead
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